D The Business

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Donavin Hogan (born January 15, 1990), better known by his stage name D The Business (formerly known as Lil' D and Little D), is an American rapper, actor, entrepreneur, songwriter and real estate agent. D The Business gained fame as a rapper in the early 2000s at just 10 years old along with his cousin Romeo Miller (formerly Lil’ Romeo) after signing with No Limit Records, then owned by his cousin, Master P. He was one of the only artist featured on Romeo's debut album Lil' Romeo, which charted the US Billboard 200 at number six and went on to be certified gold, selling over 500,000 copies with in a month, which went on to be certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

He was billed on early commercial releases as Lil' D or Little D before eventually changing his stage name to D The Business in 2012. This name change was accompanied by his breakout street single We So Bout It featuring Master P, Black Don, and Lil Wayne.

In 2019, he released the song Fancy featuring Black Don. In 2020, he released the single titled Flex featuring Romeo Miller & Young V.

Aside from music, D The Business is also an actor, realtor and is the founder of several companies. Hogan also co-founded the independent label L.I.E. Entertainment and played a pivotal role in the creation of the record labels Guttar Music and No Limit Forever Records.

Early life[]

Donavin Hogan was born in Houston, Texas by way of Missouri City (Mo. City) to parents and family from the Calliope and Magnolia Housing Projects of New Orleans, Louisiana. He spent a lot of his adolescence engaged in music, basketball, street life and acting all while excelling in school academically. At the time Mo. City was sort of a melting pot of organized gangs and sports. He is the cousin of rappers and entrepreneurs Master P and Romeo Miller. He is the cousin of rappers C-Murder and Silkk the Shocker, and he is the brother of rapper and pro athlete basketball trainer Black Don (formerly BBlak or Black). D The Business witnessed his cousin Percy " Master P " Miller turn a small label to what is widely considered one of the most iconic powerhouse hip-hop record companies globally known as No Limit Records. D The Business stated that the mentorship of Master P taught him to always have a think bigger mindset, which motivated him as a rapper and serial entrepreneur to want to do more than just rap, play basketball, and run through the streets of Texas. He attended and played basketball at Thurgood Marshall High School and graduated in 2008 with athletic scholarship offers and with accumulated accounting college course credits for taking college classes while he was still in High School. He briefly attended Houston Community College before dropping out to pursue music and business full time.

D The Business was signed to No Limit at the age of ten, after he wrote a rap and snuck with Romeo Miller into his fathers studio to record it. This inevitably started both of their careers in music.

Music career[]

2001–04: Lil' Romeo, Lil’ D, Little D, and No Limit[]

In 2001, Hogan known at the time as Lil' D and Little D was one of the only features on Romeo Miller's debut album, titled after his original alias Lil' Romeo. Also in 2001, D The Business was featured on his cousins Silkk the Shocker's remix single of "That's Kool", featuring Lil’ Romeo and Trina which was the second lead single for the Lil' Romeo album.^[1] Later that year, at just 11 years old he released his own debut hit single "Cotton Candy" featuring Lil’ Romeo executive produced by Master P and distributed by Priority Records off of his scheduled debut album titled "Meet Me At The Playground".^[2][3] The album was never released.

In 2002, during the spring D The Business along with his cousin Romeo skips school for the road on a 15 date tour at only 12 years old.^[4] Later that year he was featured on multiple songs on Romeo's second studio album, Game Time via The New No Limit and Universal Records which included "Clap Your Hands" and the more notable single "Play Like Us" which spawned live TV performances of the song on Nickelodeon's 2002 "TEENick Summer Concert Series" hosted by Nick Cannon and on the television show Soul Train amongst others.^[5][6][7]

D The Business was featured on "I Like That" “Dime Pieces" “We Can Make It" “Party" “Bobble Head" off of the soundtrack Romeo! TV Show (The Season) for the hit show Romeo! an American sitcom that aired on Nickelodeon from 2003 to 2006.^[8][9]

2005–07: Collaborations, Rich Boyz, and Guttar Music[]

In 2005 Lil' D's song "You Don't" was featured on the 504 Boyz Hurricane Katrina (We Gon' Bounce Back) album.^[10]

Also in 2005, Little D, Romeo Miller, Valentino Miller, C-Los and Doug formed the rap group Rich Boyz and on November 22, 2005, they released their debut album titled Young Ballers: The Hood Been Good to Us on Guttar Music.^[11]

D The Business also featured on Romeo Miller's first album to be classified as explicit released with his official name changed to Romeo on the songs "Sittin’ Low" and "Fitted Cap". On December 12, 2006, the album was titled God's Gift via Guttar Music, UrbanDigital and GoDigital Music Group, it served as the soundtrack to the same name independent film Miller's father Master P had directed and produced.^[12]

2008–11: Mixtapes, No Limit Forever, Collaborations[]

In addition, that year D The Business also performed at the VH1 televised 2010 Hip Hop Honors awards with his cousins Romeo Miller, Valentino Miller, Silkk The Shocker, his brother Black Don, along with Trina, Gucci Mane and Mystikal announced on stage by actress Taraji P. Henson to honor his cousin Master P and No Limit Records.^[13]

In 2011, D The Business would go on a tour with his cousins Romeo Miller, Master P and Silkk the Shocker, the tour was titled "No Limit Forever International". On August 19, 2011, D The Business featured on Romeo Miller's I Am No Limit mixtape which was originally supposed to be his fourth studio album, but Miller decided it would be best to just release it as a mixtape for his fans. D The Business was billed on this project as D after dropping "Lil" from his stage name on songs such as "Rock Wit It" with Valentino, Ms Chee, Bengie B, Black Don & Gangsta; "Catch Me If You Can", "Drop That" with Tempo, and on his brother Black Don's single "Money Flow" with Master P & Romeo Miller.

2012–present: New name, new label[]

In 2012, Hogan formed a new record label with his brother Black Don titled L.I.E. Entertainment (Loyalty Is Everything) and he also officially changed his stage name to D The Business. On January 5, 2012, D The Business released his breakout single "We So Bout It" featuring Black Don, Master P, and Lil Wayne.

On June 28, 2013, he independently released his first solo mixtape, From Sidelines 2 Headlines, and on July 17, 2013 released the official video to the single We So Bout It.^[14]

Other Ventures[]

Acting career[]

D The Business appeared as a school bully in the 2007 movie Uncle P.^{[citation needed]}

Business Ventures and Real Estate[]

In 2014, Hogan started a restaurant delivery service named Any Food Delivered with his brother Donald Jr.^[15] He is a licensed real estate agent in Texas.

Other media[]

Hogan is the co-founder and co-host of the Intellects Connect podcast which launched in 2021.^[16]

Discography[]

References[]